Helen Matthews Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Helen Matthews is an author known for her bestselling psychological suspense fiction works. She can pen such great works since she has always had a fascination with how life can change without warning and the darker side of human nature.
Helen was born in Cardiff, Wales, and went to the University of Liverpool where she read English. Following her graduation, she worked in pensions management, international development, human resources, and consultancy.

Helen Matthews published “After Leaving the Village” her debut novel in 2017 and has been writing ever since. Her flash fiction and stories have been published and shortlisted by “Love Sunday Magazine,” “Flash 500,” “Artificium,” “1000k,” “Reflex Press,” and “Story.”

Outside of her writing, she is an avid cyclist who loves conquering the hills and sings in a choir. Matthews is also an ambassador of “Unseen,” the charity that works toward the eradication of slavery in the world. She usually donates a portion of her royalties and talk fees to the charity.

Like many novelists, it took a long time for Helen Matthews to achieve his dream of becoming an author.

Like many novelists, his love for writing began while she was still a child. During that time, he had some small competitions and publication successes before she proceeded to college where she studied English, even if she was overwhelmed by the works of the literary masters.

After graduating from college, she got into a profession that did not have anything to do with fiction writing, even though her dream did not die. She continued writing late at night but mainly short stories that most magazine editors deemed too dark.

Following the birth of her kids, she continued working full-time in but noticed that since she worked an analytical job, her writing was deteriorating since she had to write business reports and financial and quasi-legal reports. The creative spark left her and she found it particularly difficult to pen fiction work.

At this time, Helen began dabbling in freelance journalism and had several successes as some of her stories were published in magazines such as the “Guardian” and broadcast on “BBC Radio.” It was during this time that she penned several deeply flawed novels that will never see the light of day.

When her children were older, Helen Matthews realized she would never be happy if she did not publish despite her well-paid career. She fled her high-flying career and headed back to college for her creative writing master’s degree.
Even though she knew one did not need to get any qualification or an MFA to become an author, she did it since she needed to get rid of all that indoctrination into business speak and try to bring back her creativity.

For her dissertation, she penned her novel but even though it earned her the degree, she knew it wasn’t up to standard and hence banished it with the others in her drawer.

Helen began researching her debut and submitted the first few pages to the “Winchesters Writers’ Festival” and was surprised to win. As part of the prize, she was allowed to meet an editor working for a top publisher who liked it and asked her to find an agent.

She spent several years querying agent and when she could not find one she finally signed with the small publisher Hashtag Press.

Helen Matthews’ novel “After Leaving the Village” tells the story of Odeta.

She is barely out of her childhood, but she is already dreaming of leaving her small Albanian village as she wants more than a future of babies, marriage, and the family store. There are hardly any opportunities for women in the village and she fears that she may end up like her mother.

It is for this reason that she is lured by the promise of a great life in London where she will be a fashion model and lead a glamorous life. But this is just a ploy to get her in London as the latest victim of some dangerous sex trafficking ring.
On the other hand is freelance journalist Kate, who is working on what could be the story that could make her career, even as she is dealing with a son who is having problems adjusting in school and is also quick-tempered.
Meanwhile, Tim her husband spends his days and nights staring at his computer and hardly looks at her. She believes that if she can cut off the technology, maybe they can reconnect and save their family.

While Kate and Odeta could not be any more different, their lives suddenly converge when Kate decides to start to know he neighbors better.

“The Girl in the Van” by Helen Matthews tells the fascinating story of Laura. She has had to experience some very traumatic events, and these have made her retreat into a solitary existence filled with hurt, denial, regret, and yearning for Ellie her daughter.

Half a dozen years ago, she had left behind Elie and Gareth her husband in Wales as she moved to London. On an emotional and mental level, she has never stopped running but now wants to get back her life.

However, she shocks everyone when she gets a campervan and goes to Pembrokeshire on a singles holiday. She slowly begins meeting new people and cautiously gets into a relationship with Ben but he is not central to her life.
The most important arrival in her life and her conscience is a young woman named Miriana who breaks into her campervan. She is a reincarnation of her daughter Ellie and her background has many uncomfortable parallels to the traumatic past Laura went through.

There are all manner of turns and twists, secrets, and ulterior motives which you cannot predict. However, they all make perfect sense and lend a chilling authenticity and noir thriller to the work.

Helen Matthews’ novel “Lies Behind the Ruin” is a great work of fiction that tells the story of Emma a single mother. When she got married to Paul her second husband, she believed that her dark days were in the past. But then there is a fatal accident at his workplace and he is blamed.

Her once dependable husband becomes erratic and while vacationing in France he buys a dilapidated property on impulse and says the family will have to move to get away from their problems. This means Emma will need to make a difficult choice between her daughter and son.

Doing her best to build a new life for herself in a new country, she is unaware of the lies and secrets that threaten the safety of her family. It does seem that someone is looking for revenge and no one is easier prey than Mollie her daughter.
The work is a real page-turner that details French customs, bureaucracy, and life lending flavor and interest to the narrative.